Haruka Kitaguchi celebrates winning the gold medal in the women’s javelin throw final at the Summer Olympics on Saturday in Saint-Denis, France.
07:53 JST, August 11, 2024
PARIS – Haruka Kitaguchi, 26, won the gold medal in the women’s javelin throw in Paris on Saturday.
Her longest throw in the final was 65.80 meters.
The 176-centimeter-tall athlete has excelled in various sports since childhood, including badminton and swimming.
She started throwing the javelin when she was in high school in Hokkaido and became the champion of a tournament in Hokkaido two months after taking up the sport.
In 2019, after enrolling at Nihon University, she moved her training camp to the Czech Republic. In October of the same year, she set a Japanese record of 66.00 meters. In 2023, she broke that record with a throw of 67.38 meters.
At the Tokyo Olympics, she became the first Japanese javelin thrower in 57 years to reach the final, finishing twelfth.
Social Media: Haruka Kitaguchi threw an astonishing 65.80 meters on Saturday to win a gold medal in the javelin throw at the Paris Olympics.
